Thank you SO much to Violet Blue for pointing me towards this recent article in the New York Times about two brothers in Pakistan making bondage gear and fetish wear to export to the United States. Only a few people who work at the company actually know what the items are actually for - even their families do not know. In fact, the brothers say if they told their mother, she would disown them.In the video that accompanies the article, the brothers are completely non-judgmental about the items they sell, even saying that their gear is the "spice of lovemaking" - they make sex better, like good spices make food better. They also feel that people in Pakistan may have these same urges but are restricted by the culture from acting on them.In fact, due to this culture, the brothers are at risk of getting shut down and must conceal their activities:

Still, word of the business has at times escaped. Last year four ?powerful guys? from a conservative Muslim group threatened to burn down the factory if it was not closed within a week. The brothers calmly explained that it was merely a business, and that the items were not used in Pakistan. The next day they bribed a local Islamic political organization to ensure their safety.

Articles like this make me wonder what it must be like to work in a factory making items that are not for your culture; that you would never use or would never be able to own or never be allowed to own. What do the young women who make so many vibrators in China think they are making? What about whomever makes Seven Jeans? Nintendo Wiis? In a way, it breaks my heart to think of a Pakistani woman painstakingly putting together a flogger for someone to use in their safe, sane and consenual sex life when her own might be nothing close to that.Check out the rest of the article.